An all-star lineup of some of the most successful and accomplished rock ‘n’ roll musicians in Twin Cities history will join Rick Shefchik as he introduces his new book, "Everybody’s Heard About the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota," at the Electric Fetus on Wednesday, November 11, at 7 p.m.

Rick will host a discussion and jam session with Tony Andreason of the Trashmen (“Surfin Bird”), Dale Menten and Tom Klugherz of the Gestures (“Run, Run, Run”), Jim Johnson and Doni Larson of the Underbeats and Gypsy (“Footstompin’,” “Gypsy Queen”), Jim Donna of the Castaways (“Liar, Liar”), Larry Wiegand of the Rave-Ons, South 40 and Crow (“Evil Woman”), Phil Berdahl of the Stillroven, Ron Butwin of the Escapades and Mike Waggoner of the Bops. Afterwards, Rick and the musicians will sign copies of the book.

Rick Shefchik was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1974 and worked at the Duluth News-Tribune for three years. He then spent 26 years at the St. Paul
…

Everything old became new again, if only for a night, as the spirit of 1960’s Minnesota rock ‘n roll was alive and well at a packed book release party.

Rick Shefchik

The celebratory event was held at the Electric Fetus record store in Minneapolis last week, promoting of Everybody's Heard about the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota by local author and longtime newspaper man, Rick Shefchik, and featured all-out party music from the likes of The Gestures, The Trashmen, and The Del Counts to an overflowing crowd.

The book itself is a behind-the-scenes, up-close-and-personal account, relating how a handful of Minnesota rock bands erupted out of a small Midwest market and made it big. From Augie Garcia and Bobby Vee to The Trashmen and The Castaways, Everybody’s Heard about the Bird reveals how this monumental era of Minnesota rock music in the 1960s evolved.

Author Shefchik both MC’d the event as well as signed books (along with all the musicians present) and all 150 copies brought, disappeared to eager buyers, within minutes.

The first set of music was from Mankato’s The Gestures, who ended up acting as the “house band” and were inducted into the Minnesota Rock & Country Hall of Fame, in 2008. Contemporaries of The Beatles, the band opened their short set with the Fab Four’s ‘Things We Said Today’. Arnie Marshall took the lead for The Shirelles’ Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ (co-penned by Carole King)

After a Gerry and the Pacemakers cover, the band ended their short set with their own ‘Don’t Mess Around’ and national charting hit, ‘Run, Run, Run’.

Trashmen

Members Tony Andreason and original bassist Bob Reed of the legendary Trashmen were coaxed on stage next, for a two-song hit parade of Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis songs, though unfortunately did not play the song the book was named after.

Del Counts

After a short break, the Gestures returned with Del Counts guitarist Steve Miller to blaze through Chuck Berry’s ‘Let It Rock’ and a cover of ‘Let the Good Times Roll’ which the Del Counts had also recorded as a 45 for Soma Records back in the day.

The Gestures closed the evening with a slower Gene Pitney cover, then decided to rev things back up with Chuck Berry’s ‘Nadine’, to end the event on more of an exclamation point, to a mostly older but all very appreciative crowd.

Sound+Vision

Rick Shefchik continues his area book tour for Everybody's Heard about the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota, with his next appearance being THIS Saturday in Woodbury, at the Sound+Vision MN Pop Culture Collectibles Show.

Swedish singer Tove Lo is headlining First Avenue. She won "Artist of the Year" and "Song of the Year" (for "Habits (Stay High)") at the Swedish Grammis earlier this year. Her latest album Queen of the Clouds is available now on Island.

Swedish pop singer/songwriter Erik Hassle to open. You may recall we previously caught Hassle with Twin Shadows in April 2015 and wrote that his song "No Words" was quickly becoming this the Summer single.

Colony House will be at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis next Saturday, October 10th. Their lead single "Silhouettes" became the #1 most played track on SiriusXM's Alt Nation for 4 months straight, so there is a lot of buzz for this band. Their debut full length album When I Was Younger came out last summer via Descendant Records, hitting #3 on Billboard Heatseekers Chart and #7 on iTunes Alternative Rock Charts.

Co-headlining will be rising Nashville foursome COIN in support of their self-titled debut album, released June 8. We previously mentioned this as a band to watch at SXSW 2015.